Blaine Gabbert's woes grow in pounding by Atlanta

Jaguars rookie quarterback pummeled again as Jacksonville falls to 4-10

Atlanta Falcons defensive end John Abraham (55) hits Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert (11) to cause a fumble during the first half of an NFL football game Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The Jaguars got another example Thursday night in their 41-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons of why it is so difficult to judge rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert until next year, when they hope to get a better supporting cast around him.

The worst-rated quarterback in the league, Gabbert appeared to struggle again in the loss. He fumbled twice when he was sacked, threw an interception and had a 70.5 passer rating while completing 12 of 22 passes.

Yet when interim head coach Mel Tucker looked at the videotape, he said that Gabbert made progress and played one of his better games except for the issue of ball security.

Tucker said that Gabbert’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Chastin West was a “big time” throw.

Tucker said that Gabbert is a tough, smart quarterback who works hard and is aware of what is going on around him. He was sacked five times — a sixth was called back by a penalty — and fumbled on two of them.

Gabbert said, “I can’t take those sacks, and those fumbles are on me. I got shut down on my reads.”

Falcons defensive end John Abraham seemed to spend much of the night hounding Gabbert.

In a typo on the stat sheet, he was listed as having 35.5 sacks. Abraham actually had 3.5. It just seemed like more.

And then there’s the receiving corps. They were playing short-handed, with Mike Thomas and Cecil Shorts injured. Jarett Dillard dropped a pass right after muffing a punt. And West didn’t get separation on what could have been a first-down catch and a defender knocked it down. He also had an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped out a 7-yard reception by Maurice Jones-Drew.

The play of the receivers prompted Falcons cornerback Dunta Robinson to publicly criticize them. Robinson is no stranger to covering Jaguars receivers since he did it twice a year when he was in Houston.

“Those guys are [——] jokes,” Robinson said. “Those guys couldn’t get a [——] receiver if it hit them in the head,” he said.

He mentioned Matt Jones as one of their receivers who didn’t make it in recent years and added, “They haven’t had anyone decent since Jimmy Smith.”

Running back Maurice Jones-Drew gained 112 yards to take another step toward winning the rushing title.

Tucker stressed the importance of having continuity in the passing game.

“It’s not always just one guy or one thing. Everything has to be working together in order to execute on a play,” Tucker said.

The Jaguars’ makeshift secondary also had problems stopping Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and receiver Roddy White, who had 10 catches.

Safety Dwight Lowery aggravated his shoulder injury, and the Jaguars had to put in Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, who’s been with the team since Dec. 3.

“We did have some breakdowns in the secondary. We did turn some guys loose. That hurt. Anytime you make a mistake in the secondary, you have a chance to make a big play and those mistakes turn into scores,” Tucker said.

Tucker said the Jaguars can use the rest because they don’t play again until Christmas Eve after playing three games in 11 days. They practice today and then have two days off.

Jones-Drew didn’t play at the end after having his ankle rolled up on, but Tucker said it doesn’t appear to be an issue.

Because they’ve put 27 players on the injured reserve list, the Jaguars are short-handed, but Tucker won’t make any excuses.

“There are no excuses and no explanations,” he said.

He also said the team kept playing hard despite the lopsided score.

“I haven’t seen anything to tell me that guys aren’t on board with what we’re doing. I don’t think it’s an issue of want to or anything like that. I trust these guys. They want to do well. In terms of buying in or effort or things like that, it’s not an issue,” he said.

Tight end Marcedes Lewis said, “If you don’t execute against a good team, that happens to you. Things got out of hand way too fast, and we weren’t able to overcome it. I think that everything that could have possibly gone wrong, went wrong.”

The Jaguars now have two holiday games left, on Christmas Eve at Tennessee and at home on New Year’s Day at home against winless Indianapolis.

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